KSDK (channel 5) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by

Tegna Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into tw ...

The station's studios are located on Market Street in Downtown St. Louis, and its transmitter is located in Shrewsbury, Missouri. However,

master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as switc ...

and some internal operations are based at the studios of sister station and fellow NBC affiliate

WCNC-TV WCNC-TV (channel 36) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with NBC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc. WCNC-TV's studios are located in the Wood Ridge Center office complex off Billy Graham Parkway ( ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

History

The station first signed on the air as KSD-TV on February 8, 1947. It was owned by the

Pulitzer Publishing Company Pulitzer, Inc. was an American media company who owned newspapers, television stations and radio stations across the United States. Founded by Joseph Pulitzer (who also funded the Pulitzer Prizes, which are not affiliated with the company), its p ...

, publishers of the ''

St. Louis Post-Dispatch The ''St. Louis Post-Dispatch'' is a major regional newspaper based in St. Louis, Missouri, serving the St. Louis metropolitan area. It is the largest daily newspaper in the metropolitan area by circulation, surpassing the ''Belleville News-Dem ...

'' and owners of KSD radio (550 AM, now KTRS). It was the ninth television station to sign on in the United States and the first television station in Missouri. The station's original studios were located adjacent to the Post-Dispatch building on Olive Street. It was the second commercial station located west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

, following

KTLA KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the seco ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, which had signed on just 17 days earlier. In the early days, KSD produced much of its own programming and developed its own talent pool. Many St. Louis television pioneers from KSD-TV came from radio, including Frank Eschen, Kay Morton, Russ Severin and Dave Russell. Because of a freeze on new television station licenses imposed by the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC), KSD-TV was the only television station in the St. Louis market, until WTVI (channel 54, now KTVI channel 2, a

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

affiliate) signed on in August 1953. Often known as simply "Channel 5," the station has always been an NBC affiliate, owing to KSD radio's longtime affiliation with the

NBC Red Network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (known as the NBC Red Network prior to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in operation from 1926 through 2004. Along with the NBC Blue Network it was one of the first t ...

. The station is currently the longest-tenured affiliate of any major broadcast television network. In its early years, Channel 5 also carried secondary affiliations with CBS, DuMont and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

. In the early 1960s, Channel 5 became the first St. Louis television station to broadcast in

color Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

. After Pulitzer sold KSD radio to Combined Communications Corporation in 1979 (prior to Combined's merger into the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.call signs, modified theirs to the current KSDK on July 10, 1979. In 1982, the station relocated its studios from its original location on Olive Street to their present location on Market Street in Downtown St. Louis. In 1983, Pulitzer traded channel 5 to

Multimedia, Inc. Multimedia, Inc. was a Mass media, media company that owned 12 daily newspapers, 49 weekly newspapers, two radio stations, five television stations, and a cable television system division. The company was headquartered in Greenville, South Caroli ...

in return for WFBC (now WYFF) in

Greenville, South Carolina Greenville (; locally ) is a city in and the seat of Greenville County, South Carolina, United States. With a population of 70,720 at the 2020 census, it is the sixth-largest city in the state. Greenville is located approximately halfway be ...

, and WXII-TV in

Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city and the county seat of Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States. In the 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the second-largest municipality in the Piedmont Triad region, the 5th most populous city in N ...

, in what was a rare instance of one company's

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

station being traded for another. During the 1980s and 1990s, KSDK was the highest-rated NBC affiliate in the country, and it remains the most-watched NBC affiliate in the top 30

markets Market is a term used to describe concepts such as: * Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand * Market economy *Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market Geography *Märket, a ...

to this day, despite the network's overall ratings decline that has occurred since the 2004–05 season. In 1990, KSDK dropped the ''

Eyewitness News ''Eyewitness News'' is a style of television news presentation that emphasizes visual elements and action video, replacing the older "man-on-camera" newscast. History Pioneered by Westinghouse The earliest known use of the ''Eyewitness New ...

'' branding and rebranded its newscasts as ''NewsChannel 5''; the station also began to operate on a 24-hour-a-day schedule. On July 24, 1995, Multimedia was purchased by the Gannett Company, with the acquisition finalized on December 4. In 1998, KSDK debuted the "Window on St. Louis," a street-side studio located in the same

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

St. Louis building that also houses KSDK's other studios. The local program ''Show Me St. Louis'' used this studio for broadcasts for nearly 20 years. The Window on St. Louis was modeled on '' Today''s "Window on the World." In an attempt to provide St. Louisans with local and national election results during the

2004 elections 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

, KSDK partnered with

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

member station KETC (channel 9) to

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

election coverage. The KSDK/KETC partnership continued through September 2005, when, along with radio partners KYKY (98.1 FM) and

KEZK KEZK-FM (102.5 Hertz, MHz) is a commercial radio, commercial radio station licensed to St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. It broadcasts an adult contemporary radio format and is owned by Audacy, Inc. From mid-November through the Christmas holida ...

(102.5 FM), a telethon for

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

relief was simulcast. KSDK produced the first broadcast of any local program in St. Louis in

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...

, when it broadcast the St. Louis Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 24, 2005. Incidentally, the 2005 parade also marked the final year that the event, which had been a Thanksgiving Day tradition on KSDK, would be broadcast on the station, as the parade moved to CBS affiliate KMOV (channel 4) in 2006. Around the first week of October 2012, Gannett entered a

dispute Dispute may refer to: * an act of physical violence; combat * Controversy ** Lawsuit ** Dispute resolution * Dispute (credit card) * ''La Dispute'', a 1744 prose comedy by Pierre de Marivaux * La Dispute (band) La Dispute is an American pos ...

against

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...

regarding compensation fees and Dish's

AutoHop Hopper is a line of digital video recording (DVR) set-top boxes offered by the U.S. direct-broadcast satellite television provider Dish Network. First introduced at Consumer Electronics Show in January 2012, the Hopper was released in March 2012 ...

commercial-skip feature on its Hopper

digital video recorder A digital video recorder (DVR) is an electronic device that records video in a digital format to a disk drive, USB flash drive, SD memory card, SSD or other local or networked mass storage device. The term includes set-top boxes with direct to d ...

s. Gannett ordered that Dish discontinue AutoHop on the account that it is affecting advertising revenues for KSDK. Gannett threatened to suspend its contact with the satellite provider should the skirmish continue beyond October 7 and Dish and Gannett fail to reach an agreement. The two parties eventually reached an agreement after extending the deadline for a few hours. On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. KSDK was retained by the latter company, named Tegna. In 2017, the station re-branded as "5 On Your Side."

Local programming

News operation

KSDK presently broadcasts 34½ hours of locally-produced newscasts each week (with 5½ hours each weekday and 3½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station also produces five half-hour episodes of ''Show Me St. Louis'' each week. KSDK dominated the news ratings in St. Louis for the better part of its first six decades on the air. KMOX-TV (now KMOV) took the lead in the late 1960s, but KSDK regained the #1 spot in the early 1980s and kept it for most of the next two decades, with some of the highest (and by some measures, ''the'' highest) rated newscasts in the nation. For much of that time, its main anchors stayed at the station for 10 years or more. At one point, its 6 p.m. newscast ended with local elementary schoolchildren flashing the hand signs for "5" and "1", signifying that, as a promo featuring the kids said, "Even a second grader could tell you that Channel 5 is number 1." During the spring 2004 sweeps, it lost its first-place position at 10 p.m. to KMOV, and the two stations have traded the ratings crown in that timeslot several times since then. KMOV has also closed its ratings gap in several other timeslots, due in part to NBC's overall weaker ratings since 2004. KSDK's ratings dominance began to slip dramatically in 2009, first losing late news to KMOV, and then morning news to KTVI. In 2013, its ratings went into free fall. The November 2013 ratings book saw KSDK tumble into last place for the first time in its history. KTVI easily won the morning news and KMOV swept the rest. KSDK-TV news van

A sports wrap-up program previously aired on Sunday evenings after the 10 p.m. newscast called ''Sports Plus.'' It was originally hosted by Mike Bush until he moved from sports director to news anchor in 2004, and then hosted by sports director Rene Knott, who became the news co-anchor of ''Today in St. Louis'', KSDK's weekday morning newscast, in 2017. From August 1989 until September 2011, ''Today in St. Louis'' co-anchors Jennifer Blome and Art Holliday had one of the longest anchor pairings in U.S. local television history. In 2011, Holliday was reassigned to co-anchor a new half-hour 4 p.m. newscast alongside Kay Quinn that debuted on September 12, 2011, while Blome was paired with Pat McGonigle (formerly of WHEC-TV in Rochester) on the morning newscast.KSDK splitting up Jennifer and Art after 22 years
''

'', August 29, 2011. On September 12, 2005, KSDK debuted a half-hour weekday newscast at 10 a.m., following the third hour of NBC's ''Today''; the newscast was discontinued in September 2009, but returned on September 12, 2011 as an hour-long program (as a result, the fourth hour of ''Today'' airs on a one-hour delay at 11 a.m.). On February 6, 2006, KSDK became the first television station in St. Louis, and the seventh station in the United States, to broadcast all newscasts and locally produced programming in

; it also became the first St. Louis area station to

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

all of its newscasts online. On August 13, 2007, KSDK debuted ''Online @ 9'', a 10-minute news

webcast A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand. Essentially, web ...

on the station's website that was tailored to an online audience. That online newscast has been discontinued. On November 11, 2010, KSDK entered into a news share agreement with

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...

-owned ABC affiliate

KDNL-TV KDNL-TV (channel 30) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios on Cole Street in the Downtown West section of St. Louis, and its transmit ...

, to produce two pre-recorded half-hour newscasts at 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. weeknights for that station starting on January 3, 2011 (prior to the agreement, KDNL had not run any local newscasts since it shut down its news department in October 2001); in addition, KDNL also aired weekend rebroadcasts of KSDK's entertainment/features program ''Show Me St. Louis''. KDNL general manager Tom Tipton stated that the station did not want to run simulcast or repurposed newscasts in its efforts to return daily newscasts to channel 30. The arrangement was unusual given that KSDK and KDNL are both " Big Three" network affiliates, and the fact that the newscasts on both stations competed against one another. The agreement with KDNL was to have ended on December 31, 2013; however, it was extended for another month until January 31, 2014. On September 12, 2011, along with the relaunch of its 10 a.m. newscast and the addition of a 4 p.m. newscast, ''Today in St. Louis'' expanded from 2½ to three hours on weekday mornings, now running at 4–7 a.m.; while the noon newscast was reduced to a half-hour with ''Show Me St. Louis'' being moved to fill the remaining half-hour. With these additions, KSDK was reduced to only three hours of syndicated daytime shows to back up its newscasts outside of NBC network programming. By 2014, KSDK had cancelled its 10 a.m. newscast, with a now hour-long ''Show Me St. Louis'' taking up the 10 a.m. hour, with the noon newscast also expanding back to 60 minutes in length. By 2017, ''Show Me St. Louis'' was again only 30 minutes, with

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

s filling the 10:30 half hour. The noon news was typically 30 minutes long with occasional extensions to 60 minutes, with another infomercial filling the 12:30 slot. In 2017, KSDK's noon news was discontinued, and replaced with a second run of ''

Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead given genera ...

'' In 2018, ''Today in St. Louis'' was reduced to two hours on weekday mornings, running from 5–7 a.m. In 2020, KSDK expanded ''Today in St. Louis'' back to 2½ hours, running at 4:30–7 a.m. In addition, KSDK revived its 10 a.m. newscast for a third time and has moved ''Show Me St. Louis'' to 10:30 a.m. In October 2021, KSDK revived its noon newscast and moved ''Jeopardy!'' to 12:30. KSDK used to operate a Bell 206B3 JetRanger helicopter called "Chopper 5", that was used for breaking news and severe weather coverage. To save money, the station began paying market leader KMOV to use video from its chopper in 2010. Its news reporting has also won the station a multitude of journalism awards including

Regional Emmys The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

, Gabriel Awards and Regional

Edward R. Murrow Awards The Edward R. Murrow Award may refer to one of several awards named after American journalist Edward R. Murrow: * Edward R. Murrow Award (Corporation for Public Broadcasting), given out to individuals in public radio since 1977 * Edward Murrow Awa ...

2014 school security controversy

In January 2014, KSDK faced criticism from educators and the community for an undercover piece on school security. On January 16, a KSDK

videojournalist Video journalism or videojournalism is a form of journalism, where the journalist shoots, edits and often presents his or her own video material. Background A predecessor to video journalism first appeared in the 1960s in the USA, when reporters h ...

entered

Kirkwood High School Kirkwood High School is a public education, public secondary school in Kirkwood, Missouri, United States. The school is part of the Kirkwood R-7 School District. Dr. Mike Havener started as principal in July 2011. History Kirkwood High School ...

in Kirkwood to test the school's security, wearing a hidden camera. This followed several other tests at local single-building elementary schools, whereas Kirkwood High School is a multi-building campus. Thus, Kirkwood was the only school where the employee entered without being questioned. School personnel became concerned when the KSDK employee asked to use a restroom and left the office in the opposite direction, and when the station would not confirm with the school that the employee's visit was only a test, the school was placed on lockdown for 40 minutes, when a station representative finally confirmed that the employee's presence was for a story. Investigative reporter Leisa Zigman apologized on-air for the chain of events leading to the lockdown, but the station stood by its story, claiming the lockdown did not occur until an hour after the videojournalist left. Despite a school spokesperson admitting changes to security needed to be made, KSDK was strongly criticized by viewers raising questions about journalistic ethics, and anchor Mike Bush led the 10 p.m. newscast on January 20 with a more formal apology, stating that the station was reviewing its procedures to ensure a similar incident would not occur again.

Notable former on-air staff

Fran Charles Fran Charles (born October 19, 1968) is an American television personality for MLB Network, formerly for NFL Network. Career Charles attended John Burroughs School in Ladue, Missouri; then earned a Bachelor's degree in Communication at Stanford ...

– reporter (1991–1992; later at

WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...

-TV/

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

; currently host on MLB Network) * Denise D'Ascenzo – reporter and

talk show A talk show (or chat show in British English) is a television programming or radio programming genre structured around the act of spontaneous conversation.Bernard M. Timberg, Robert J. Erler'' (2010Television Talk: A History of the TV Talk Show ...

host (1980s, later at WFSB in Hartford, now deceased) *

Karen Foss Karen Foss, born Karen Colleen Graham in Kansas City, Kansas in 1944, is an American journalist and businesswoman. She was an anchorwoman on KSDK in St. Louis, Missouri from 1979 until December 28, 2006. Foss won six Emmys, two for best anchor, na ...

– anchor (1979–2006; later vice president for public relations at Ameren) * Paul Goodloe – chief meteorologist (1997–1999; now at The Weather Channel) *

Janice Huff Janice Huff (born September 1, 1960) is the chief meteorologist for WNBC in New York City. Early years As she has sometimes noted on her newscast, though born in New York City, at an early age she moved to her grandparents house in Columbia, South ...

– meteorologist (1987–1991; now at WNBC/New York City) *

Julius Hunter Julius Kelton Hunter is an American former journalist and television news anchor, best known for his tenures on two television stations in St. Louis: KSD-TV (now KSDK), the NBC affiliate in St. Louis, and KMOX-TV (now KMOV), the CBS affiliate in St. ...

– reporter (1966–1974; later at KMOV) * Stan Kann – personality (became frequent guest to '' The Tonight Show'' and other programs with his presentations of gadgets) * George Noory – news director (early to mid-1980s; now host of '' Coast to Coast AM'') *

Cindy Preszler Cindy Preszler is an on-air meteorologist with CBS-owned WFOR-TV in Miami, Florida. She was previously with WFTX-TV, in Fort Myers, Florida, anWeatherSTL.com a dynamic, interactive site she created and owned that delivered up-to-date weather inf ...

(

AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions * A ...

and NWA Seals of Approval) – chief meteorologist (October 1998 – April 22, 2016, now at WFTX-TV/ Fort Myers, FL) * Jay Randolph – sports director/reporter *

Sonny Randle Ulmo Shannon "Sonny" Randle Jr. (January 6, 1936 – May 23, 2017) was an American sportscaster and football player and coach. He played wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for the Chicago Cardinals/St. Louis Cardinals, San Fran ...

– sports reporter (1965–1970) * Bob Richards – chief meteorologist (1983–1994; deceased) * Anne Thompson – consumer reporter (1983–1986; currently at

NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...

) * Debbye Turner – ''Show Me St. Louis'' anchor/feature reporter (1995–2001,

Miss America 1990 Miss America 1990, the 63rd Miss America pageant, was held at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Saturday, September 16, 1989 and was televised by the NBC Network. The winner, Debbye Turner, was the first Miss Missouri to take ...

; currently at

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', ''CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 H ...

) * Matt Winer – sports reporter (formerly on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, currently at

Turner Sports Warner Bros. Discovery Sports (WBD Sports) is the division of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) that is responsible for sports broadcasting, sports broadcasts on its parent company's various channels in the United States, including TBS (American TV ch ...

) * Trey Wingo – sports reporter (1991–1997; currently at ESPN)

Sports programming

When KSD-TV signed on in 1947, it began a longtime association with the St. Louis Cardinals as the team's

station. On May 8, 1966, during ceremonies for the opening of Busch Memorial Stadium, Bill Houska Sr. flew home plate from Sportsman's Park to the new downtown stadium in "Chopper 5." The station aired Cardinals games from

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

, before losing the rights to KPLR-TV (channel 11) for the next four seasons. The Cardinals returned in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

and remained on channel 5 until

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

– long after many other "Big Three" network affiliates dropped local sports event coverage. KSDK lost the rights to KPLR again after the 1987 season; the station also aired any Cardinals games as part of NBC's broadcast contract with Major League Baseball from 1947 to

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, including the team's

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

victories in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

. On December 7, 2006, KSDK re-obtained the television rights to Cardinals games effective with the 2007 season, ending a 19-year run on KPLR. KSDK aired an average of 20 locally produced Cardinals games each year, with most other games airing on

Fox Sports Midwest Bally Sports Midwest is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts regional e ...

outside the St. Louis market. KSDK lost the broadcast rights on July 15, 2010, when Fox Sports Midwest signed an exclusive contract with the team beginning with the 2011 season, ending the Cardinals' over-the-air telecasts. The final Cardinals telecast on channel 5 aired on October 3,

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, with a game against the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fie ...

. KSD-TV/KSDK has also been involved in airing games of St. Louis' two former NFL teams, the Cardinals and

Rams In engineering, RAMS (reliability, availability, maintainability and safety)1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

, when the Cardinals relocated to Phoenix, and again with the Rams from their arrival in St. Louis in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

until

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, when CBS acquired the AFC package from NBC. It has aired all '' Sunday Night Football'' games through NBC since 2006; all Sunday night games that the Rams took part in from then until their return to Los Angeles after the 2015 season were aired on Channel 5. From 2006 to 2021, KSDK broadcast St. Louis Blues games that air via the ''

NHL on NBC The ''NHL on NBC'' is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network and NBCSN in the United States. While NBC covered t ...

''; this included the team's victory in the 2019 Stanley Cup Final.

Other locally produced programming

KSDK has had a long history of producing local programs, including the ''Wranglers Club'' with Texas Bruce (1950–1963), ''Corky's Colorama'' with Clif St. James playing Corky the

Clown A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms. History The most ancient clowns have been found in ...

(1963–1980), ''Newsbeat'' hosted by Dick Ford and John Auble (1976–1984), and ''Midday A.M.'' (c. 1979–1986). Since September 5, 1995, KSDK has aired ''Show Me St. Louis'', which highlights local entertainment and other (mostly family-oriented) attractions around the St. Louis area. The program usually broadcasts from the "Window on St. Louis", where local groups and organizations are allowed to bring signs to advertise their events, though it occasionally leaves the studio to broadcast from local attractions (such as the

St. Louis Zoo The Saint Louis Zoo, officially known as the Saint Louis Zoological Park, is a zoo in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri. It is recognized as a leading zoo in animal management, research, conservation, and education. The zoo is accredited by the A ...

, Busch Stadium, the Fox Theatre) or from surrounding communities (such as

Waterloo, Illinois Waterloo is a city in and county seat of Monroe County, Illinois. The population was 9,811 at the 2010 census. Geography Waterloo is located at (38.335243, -90.152685). According to the 2010 census, Waterloo has a total area of , of which (or ...

and Florissant) that have uncommon or unknown attractions that may be of interest to viewers; these "Great Escapes" (as the segment within the show is titled) usually occur during summer months. The program is sponsored and has advertorial segments which are disclaimed to be from the advertisers which sponsor them, which are then disclaimed at the end of each episode. Another short advertorial feature, ''Simply Irresistible'' is carried in some prime time ad breaks. During the 1980s, the syndicated daytime talk show '' Sally'' (hosted by Sally Jessy Raphael) originated from KSDK's studios (

Multimedia Entertainment Multimedia Entertainment, Inc. (formerly Avco Program Sales) was an American television production/distribution company originally formed in 1968. History The firm was launched as Avco Program Sales in 1968 as a television production/distribution ...

, a subsidiary of former KSDK owner Multimedia, Inc., distributed the program nationally until the company's 1995 merger with Gannett, with the distribution rights held by Universal Television Enterprises and then Studios USA Television until the show's 2002 cancellation).

KSDK in the community

KSDK is active in several community-based and charitable projects. Here are some of the most well-known: *''A Place to Call Home'' is an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-winning weekly segment which profiles one child placed within the foster care system who is in need of adoption. KSDK has partnered with th
Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition
for the segment, which debuted in 2002. In September 2018, The Foster and Adoptive Care Coalition announced KSDK's ''A Place to Call Home'' segment had found 400 children forever homes. A secondary program, ''Little Wishes'', allows viewers who are unable to adopt a foster child to add a little happiness to their life by purchasing a gift for him or her during the holiday season. *''Friend to Friend'' was a program that reminded viewers on the fifth of each month to perform a

breast self-exam Breast self-examination (BSE) is a screening method used in an attempt to detect early breast cancer. The method involves the woman herself looking at and feeling each breast for possible lumps, distortions or swelling. BSE was once promoted hea ...

to detect

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

in its early, treatable stages. Viewers could also contact KSDK for an informational packet that included reminders on performing a self-exam. The station remains a sponsor for the Komen St. Louis More Than Pink Walk, which raises money for breast cancer research for

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Susan G. Komen (formerly known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure; originally as The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; often simply as Komen) is a breast cancer organization in the United States. Komen focuses on patient navigation and advo ...

. In 2006, the St. Louis fundraiser overtook Denver as the largest Race for the Cure event in the country with more than 64,000 participants, with more than $2.5 million raised with over 65,000 participants in 2007. *''Volunteer 5'' was a weekly, week-long program that collected donations for a particular local charity or community organization. It operated as a telethon, with phone operators taking calls between 4 and 7 p.m. each weeknight from anyone wishing to donate time or a monetary payment. ''Volunteer 5'' provided more than $5 million annually in services and hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours to local

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

s. The program began in 1993 to help those affected by the Great Flood of 1993, and ended in November 2005. *The ''

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

MDA Telethon The ''MDA Labor Day Telethon'' was an annual telethon held on (starting the night before and throughout) Labor Day in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). The Muscular Dystrophy Association was founded in ...

'' aired each

Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...

weekend on KSDK until 2012 (having aired only in prime time on the Sunday before the holiday in 2011 and 2012), benefiting the

Muscular Dystrophy Association The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is an American 501(c)(3) umbrella organization that works to support people with neuromuscular diseases. Founded in 1950 by Paul Cohen, who lived with muscular dystrophy, it works to combat neuromuscular di ...

to fund research to find a cure for

muscular dystrophy Muscular dystrophies (MD) are a genetically and clinically heterogeneous group of rare neuromuscular diseases that cause progressive weakness and breakdown of skeletal muscles over time. The disorders differ as to which muscles are primarily affe ...

and other diseases affecting the nervous and muscular systems. Anchor Mike Bush served as host of the telethon's local segments, whose donations benefit the St. Louis chapter of the MDA. KSDK lost its status as St. Louis' "Love Network" station when the telethon abandoned its syndication model, changed its name to the ''MDA Show of Strength'' and became a two-hour network telecast on ABC (airing locally on

, channel 30) in 2013 and 2014; the event was discontinued in 2015. The station re-launched the ''MDA Show of Strength'' in 2017, raising money for MDA St. Louis. That year the telethon was hosted by Mike Bush and Heidi Glaus, and streamed on the station's website and on Facebook Live for three hours. In 2018, Mike and Heidi hosted the telethon for a longer period of time, streaming it online and on KSDK. In 2019, Anne Allred joined the telethon as Mike's co-host. That year the pair raised more than $135,000 for the St. Louis chapter of the MDA. All money raised during the annual ''MDA Show of Strength'' stays in St. Louis.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed: Since August 28, 2013, digital subchannel 5.2 has been affiliated with Bounce TV; it is carried locally on Spectrum digital channel 127. The subchannel previously operated as "First Alert Weather 5", which debuted in June 2005 as an affiliate of

NBC Weather Plus NBC Weather Plus was an American weather-oriented digital broadcast and cable television network owned as a joint venture between NBC Universal and the local affiliates of the NBC television network. The service, which was broadcast in standard d ...

(under the name "NewsChannel 5 Weather PLUS"), before affiliating with The Local AccuWeather Channel in December 2008, after NBC Weather Plus discontinued operations. On January 20, 2015, KSDK launched 5.3 which carries a feed of the True Crime Network, which launched the same day. On January 17, 2018, KSDK launched digital subchannel 5.4 which carried clips promoting

Quest A quest is a journey toward a specific mission or a goal. The word serves as a plot device in mythology and fiction: a difficult journey towards a goal, often symbolic or allegorical. Tales of quests figure prominently in the folklore of ever ...

, a new multicast network which made its debut on January 29.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KSDK shut down its analog signal, over

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

channel 5, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 35. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...

as its former VHF analog channel 5.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ksdk Tegna Inc. NBC network affiliates GetTV affiliates True Crime Network affiliates Quest (American TV network) affiliates Twist (TV network) affiliates This TV affiliates Television stations in St. Louis 1947 establishments in Missouri Television channels and stations established in 1947 Former Gannett subsidiaries